CommunityHealth shines the Volunteer Spotlight on Dr. Arvydas Vanagunas as our September Volunteer of the Month!
Dr. Vanagunas joined CommunityHealth in August 2012, and has dedicated over 250 hours of service to our clinic. As our sole GI provider, his commitment and willingness to take on additional shifts in 2024 have been instrumental in doubling our capacity for GI appointments, one of the areas with the highest patient wait times.
Known throughout CH for his endless laughter, infectious energy, and collaborative spirit, he brings not only clinical experience, but a positive presence to every team he works with. His flexibility, reliability, and uplifting attitude make him amazing to work alongside.
During the 2024 Volunteer of the Year Awards, Dr. Vanagunas won the award for Volunteer Specialist of the Year. You can watch the awards ceremony through the link below.
CommunityHealth sat down with Dr. Vanagunas to learn more about what quality health care for all means to him…
Tell us more about yourself and your background.
I am a nearly native Chicagoan, having arrived with my immigrant parents from Germany to Chicago when I was 2 years old. My parents were Lithuanian refugees who fled their homeland after the Second World War and capture of Lithuania by the Soviet Union. I graduated from the University of Illinois undergraduate program and Medical School and did my internship and residency in Internal Medicine as well as a fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University.
I missed the atmosphere and challenges of academic medicine and teaching and left private practice after several years and returned fulltime to Northwestern until my retirement last year. I had multiple roles at Northwestern including Professor of Medicine, Chief of Staff of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, College Mentor at the Medical School, and interim head of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
I had an active clinical practice and had a special interest in teaching education in various roles at the Medical School, the Department of Internal Medicine, the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and the Jesse Brown VA Hospital.
Why and how did you begin volunteering with CommunityHealth?
I have been volunteering from time to time at CommunityHealth, starting with a monthly session of colon cancer screening with flexible sigmoidoscopy. At times, this involved teaching and supervising GI fellows from Northwestern, and other times flying solo with able assistance from the CommunityHealth staff.
What has kept you volunteering all this time?
I enjoyed caring for these salt of the earth patients and connected to their difficulties assimilating to a new culture. As I was contemplating retirement, Dr. Waldman asked me to consider participating in a regularly scheduled consultative Gl clinic. This was a no brainer for me as it provided an opportunity to join a community of patient-centric health professionals who serve and care for underprivileged people, many of whom have fallen through the cracks of our society. I could sharpen and focus the core tools of the medical history and physical examination as primary problem-solving methods.
What is something you’ve learned from CommunityHealth?
Successful outcomes in medicine necessitate understanding the patient’s perspective and what underlying fears have motivated them to see us. At CommunityHealth we are not a huge health conglomerate but a group of like-minded colleagues who primarily care about people and their welfare and vulnerabilities. It is an exceptional community. Although we may be frustrated and limited by more difficult access to all the modern technologies and therapies currently available, the most important aspects of providing care may be empathy and open communication.
What do you enjoy outside of CommunityHealth?
I do have interests outside of health care and strongly believe that a balanced life is a prerequisite to happiness. Family takes first place. I have always been an avid reader and learner, and it is difficult to come up with a favorite book. My tastes are eclectic and variable. Among my favorite fiction authors: Orhan Pahmuk, Abraham Verghese, Jonathan Lethem, David Mitchell, Claire Keegan, lan McEwen.
I belong to some book clubs and regularly sign up for various courses from the Newberry Library and the Osher Center of Northwestern. I also enjoy music, especially Alternative and currently I am listening to The Heavy, Heavy, The Lumineers, Fleet Foxes, Black Keys and always listen to The Clash, Talking Heads, Muse, The Killers, Sparks, Stones, Van Morrison, Wilco.
I love movies and go to a lot of them. Recent favorites are Kneecaps, Amora, Small Things Like These, Will and Harper and, no kidding, Wicked.
Bad golfing keeps me occupied at least one day a week and out of Audrey’s hair, weather permitting.
As the largest volunteer-based free health center in the nation, serving the uninsured, underserved, and undocumented, CommunityHealth is more than a free clinic but a true patient-centered medical home. Health care providers, both clinical and nonclinical, devoted to quality health care for all are encouraged to apply.